The far-right National Democratic Party of Germany (NPD) was forced to swap its anti-immigrant rhetoric for some kind words after two Syrian refugees rescued one of the party’s leading local candidates from car wreckage.

Stefan Jagsch, 29, a leading NPD candidate in this month’s local elections in the Hesse region, lost control of his car and crashed into a tree in the town of Büdingen last week.

Two Syrians who were travelling with a group came upon the scene and pulled the seriously injured Jagsch from the wreckage.

They gave him first aid treatment until an ambulance arrived and brought him to a hospital.

Jagsch remains in the hospital and is in a condition “to be expected in the circumstances,” Fielder said.

The NDP, which has been labelled an “anti-democratic, xenophobic, anti-Semitic and anti-constitutional party” by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office, is currently appealing a ban in Germany’s constitutional court